DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) announced it has been selected as one of four companies to supply seasonal-influenza vaccines to the Beijing Public Health Bureau.

Shares jumped about 21% premarket to $7.08 recently. The stock has more than quadrupled this year.

Some 2.8 million city residents will receive free innoculations to prevent and control both seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus, said Sinovac.

The company has been among the vaccine providers in the past. "We are confident of our flexibility to be able to fill large seasonal flu vaccine orders while also executing the [research and development] and large-scale production of our H1N1 vaccine," said Chairman and Chief Executive Weidong Yin.

That vaccine, the company said last week, was shown to be safe.

-By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2354; kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com